Sgygus:Neither banks nor broadcast media have guns. One would think that if this were a prelude to a military offensive, that South Korean military communications would be the ones under attack.

Uh... no.

Hacking into the military's computers wouldn't disrupt much. They're all redundant and there's back ups on top of backs ups and alternative options. Even preemptively killing off one of their communication systems would only mean they switch to a different one. You can't DDoS analog systems.

Civilian networks are backbones, though. You take out their servers and they're toast. Shut down the banks and the TV and the people panic. Get the people panicked and that's damage done. Economic and social.

Also because it's a cyber attack you don't kill anyone so the UN doesn't start bombing you like they would if you were to use a warplane to cause the same disruptions.

nymersic: The attack doesn't need to start in Best Korea for it to be because of them, by the way. I've known some American supporters of the DPRK even. There's people everywhere willing to swallow propaganda, and fight for a bullshiat cause.

Don't forget the ones that are doing because they are $750,000 in debt and have pretty much worn out their welcome in the rest of the world.

bluecrabscribe:I seem to recall a huge outage of the US baking system back in the early '90s. I remember it was in mid-December because I was doing my Christmas shopping and the stores were only taking cash. Came back up a few hour later. Wasn't a hacker, it turned out to be an AT&T tech who didn't understand BGP.

The only question in my mind is whether it was intended as a probe or whether they really thought they could cause panic and chaos in the civilian markets prior to military action.

It is hard to tell in a military dictatorship. Everyone wants to tell the leader that their rockets are the best, that they can hit Washington (state) etc. but until they are actually tried nobody actually knows.

Problem is: that's how wars start, when one side underestimates the other or over-estimates themselves.

13km south of the DMZ and I feel just fine. South Korean TV is showing...

Well ok, SBS 8:00 news is talking about hacking,,, Phew, KBS1 is a panel show about... remote control aircraft... OK, only toys. MBC news is showing computer code and explaining what hacking is.. The rest is the usual fare.

BBC has The Obama Road Show: Jerusalem Live! CNN is a rerun of Piers Morgan with Micahel Moore.

All in all, no reason to panic.

/Michael Moore just spouted "military industrial complex."//Now back to Top Gear to see what Jeremy, Richard and James are up to.///no panic detected

Bontesla:I just have a hard time believing they have the capacity to do this. In my head - all of the computers in the DPRK are cardboard cutouts with people inside making beeping noises for legitimacy.

The attack doesn't need to start in Best Korea for it to be because of them, by the way. I've known some American supporters of the DPRK even. There's people everywhere willing to swallow propaganda, and fight for a bullshiat cause.